Fall Amtrak Vacation Trip 2007: |
The Flight Home & Some Closing Thoughts |
October 8th-9th, 2007 |
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At around 7:15pm, I said goodbye to my Parents, and drove the rental car back to the rental car return facility. I then took the shuttle bus back to the airport. I would be flying on AirTran Airways back home. I checked my luggage, went through Security and dropped a $20 in a Wheel Of Fortune slot machine, only to nearly double my money (still don't make up for the $240 I lost on this trip!), then stopped at a Wolfgang Puck Express restaurant and caught the end of the Bills game and ordered a Pepperoni Pizza and a Diet Coke. I then went over to Gate D24 to board AirTran flight #770 for Atlanta. We had a Boeing 737-700 plane and the flight left on time and arrived about 10 minutes late in Atlanta. Upon arrival in Atlanta, I had to walk to Gate C18 to catch my connecting flight to Buffalo. After a Diet Coke, I sat back and continued writing this travelogue. I boarded AirTran Flight #558 which would bring me back home to Buffalo. This time, the plane was a Boeing 717-200 which was a smaller plane than the 737 I flew in on. It had 2 body-mounted engines. On both flights, there was free XM Radio and free headphones were given out if you needed them so as to listen to the radio. Both flight crews on AirTran were excellent. My flight to Buffalo landed just a few minutes late and upon arrival, I headed straight to my slide developer in nearby Amherst, NY to get my 17 rolls of slides processed immediately. If I learned anything about this experience, it's to do lots of planning before going to Vegas and arrive there relaxed and ready to go. There's just so much to do there, that it was a bit overwhelming for me as I'd never been there before. Overall though, I'd love to go back to Vegas as I said before, there's so much to see and do! |
Closing Thoughts: |
Las Vegas was amazing! There's no place like it anywhere in the world, and I'll definitely have to come back there sometime! Cedar Point was incredible as always and I'll be back there again next year because there's just something about that place that keeps me coming back every year and so far, I can't think of what it is, and truthfully, I really don't care, that place is just plain awesome! Amtrak's overall service on this trip was decent outside of the 2 members of the Dining Car staff on the Capitol Limited who argued with each other in front of passengers. The scenery on the California Zephyr was something I'll never forget! This is the most scenic of all Amtrak routes I've taken thus far. This route is an American treasure that you just have to ride to experience. Also, the people I met on the California Zephyr were really cool and as I said in the travelogue, we almost became somewhat of an extended family in my coach since most of us had rode the entire distance from Chicago or from somewhere near the beginning of the route. As always, I highly recommend writing your elected officials and ask them to support Amtrak. Ultimately, it's Congress that appropriates the money that Amtrak uses as their subsidy, thus you need to go directly to your elected officials and let them know Amtrak needs to be better funded as it's a very important piece of a balanced National Transportation System. Until next time, when I'll be making my annual Christmas shopping trip, Happy Railfanning... |
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